Australia needs a strong auto manufacturing industry

After 70 years, Australian auto manufacturing is reaching the end of the road. On October 20, Holden closed the doors to its Elizabeth Plant in South Australia for the last time. A thousand workers and their families lost their jobs at the plant, with more than 200,000 jobs likely to be affected as the effects of the closure ripples across Australia.

It didn’t have to be this way. Toyota and Holden closed because the Liberal Government dared them to leave.

Add your name today and make it clear that Australia needs a strong automotive industry.

The Liberal Government’s decision to force Australian auto jobs offshore was an act of economic vandalism, which will cost Australian taxpayers far more than it would have cost to keep the car makers here.

Other countries, including the US, Germany and Sweden, contribute much more than Australia per capita to their car industries because they realise the broader benefits the industry has on the economy.

The automotive industry has always been Australia’s great repository of capabilities in advanced manufacturing.

ABS data reveal that in the nine months to August 2017, nearly 30,000 jobs were lost in the manufacturing sector.

But instead of trying to reverse this trend, the Liberals are accelerating it.

Malcolm Turnbull has rejected the recommendations by the Senate inquiry into the future of the automotive industry, which aimed to attract new investment in the advanced manufacturing sector.

Securing that investment will be crucial to creating the high skill jobs Australia needs for a 21st century advanced economy.

Add your name today and make it clear that Australia needs a strong manufacturing industry.